Archive for March, 2006

Just an FYI, here’s a link to a section of the Ontario Power Authority’s Web site that has details about the province’s newly announced standard offer program for small-scale renewable energy production. You can also subscribe to an e-mail service that will automatically alert you to program updates. Of note is the statement, “We expect all aspects of the Standard Offer Program to be in place by Fall 2006.”

Just an FYI, here’s a link to a section of the Ontario Power Authority’s Web site that has details about the province’s newly announced standard offer program for small-scale renewable energy production. You can also subscribe to an e-mail service that will automatically alert you to program updates. Of note is the statement, “We expect all aspects of the Standard Offer Program to be in place by Fall 2006.”

The Green Car Congress has this report, which claims that Toyota Motor plans to offer gas-electric hybrids for all its vehicle classes by 2012. The site also has an update on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s development of hydraulic hybrid technology.

And while you’re visiting Green Car Congress, check out this post on Ontario’s plan to double the retail sales tax rebate on the purchase of hybrid vehicles to $2,000. The news is a few days old, but the post offers a few more details about the province’s plans.

The Energy Blog has this post on a report from NanoMarkets, an industry research firm that estimates the market for thin film and organic solar PV will grow to $3.3 billion (U.S.) by 2013. Of this, building-integated PV using these approaches will capture the largest share.

Vancouver, B.C.-based DynaMotive Energy Systems Corp. continues to move forward with its business plan. The company announced that it has licensed a large pyrolysis plant to Rika Ltd., a Latvian holding company with operations in the Ukraine. There is also an option for two additional plants of similar size.

According to DynaMotive, the “plant will be located at one of Rika’s farm operations in the Ukraine which covers 8,700 hectares of land. The farm would be capable of supporting the three plants envisaged under the licensing agreement signed.” In other words, biomass from the farm would be feedstock for DynaMotive’s BioOil process.

Interestingly, DynaMotive acknowledged that support 10 years ago from Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC), a controversial granting body tagged as a Liberal “fund for friends,” provided the early financial support that helped make such an agreement with Rika possible. TPC, in the process of being wound down, is being reincarnated as the Transformative Technologies Program — unless, of course, the new Conservative government cans it. DynaMotive also got funding support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a far more effective funding body.

DynaMotive had two other announcements of interest this past week: one detailing its financial performance in the first quarter — less than $1 million for a company with a market capitalization of $178 million (Yikes!); and the other an announcement that the company will establish a U.S. head office in Washington, D.C. this spring as part of aggressive efforts to push U.S. sales.

It should also be pointed out that the company has tested its BioOil product with aluminum giant Alcoa as a possible replacement for heating oil. Alcoa continues to evaluate.

For past posts on DynaMotive — and more background on its clean technology — click here, here and here.

I have to say I like this company on the surface, but with the market cap it has there are a lot of retail investors out there destined to lose some serious money when this over-the-counter stock fall back to reality. Think about it, DynaMotive’s market cap is about $45 million higher than Carmanah Technologies, a profitable company in the red-hot solar market that has 10-times the revenues.